Graphically, today's games are far more appealing than those of years past, and the same goes for stories, soundtracks, and so on. But it's undeniable that certain titles are always worth revisiting. That's why emulators remain so attractive. If you were looking for a specific one, here's the complete list. All the emulators that exist.
Emulators to play what you want
Emulators are already common and familiar among many of us, although there are still some conflicting points around them. Are they really legal? Let's do a brief review to clarify the issue.
Emulators are legal; this is something that's no longer up for debate, or at least shouldn't be. It's been confirmed on more than one occasion that this type of software doesn't break the law. What can be illegal is using the BIOS/firmware necessary to run other applications or games on a system. But if the functionality was recreated through reverse engineering, there are no problems. Extracting that firmware using brute-force techniques is another matter; in that case, you'll need the original system to use emulation. The same applies to games (ROMs). If the copyright has expired or been released, you can download and use them freely. But if not, again, you can't emulate them.
So, in summary, emulation is legal as long as you respect existing copyrights . If the creator of the system, game, or application has given their consent, or if the copyright has expired, you can use it.
Why use emulators
The interest in using emulators goes far beyond simply reducing the issue to piracy. For many users, emulation is the only way to access games that are no longer for sale and whose consoles, on which they ran, are either hard to find or have simply stopped working over time. Because preserving a cartridge in good condition is much easier than maintaining a console, for example.
For all this is why emulation is something that is of more interest every day and there are more developments. What's more, the manufacturers of those mythical consoles and arcades are seeing how they can take advantage of that work that on many occasions still retains the rights. So in current systems they are including their own emulators to access classic games.
The clearest example of how emulators are being used is the Nintendo Switch . On Nintendo's handheld console, you can play classic titles that are gradually expanding their catalog of games available through Nintendo Switch Online. And they could take even greater advantage of this if they allowed purchases at much more affordable prices and without catalog limitations. In other words, if they created a store dedicated solely to NES and Super NES games at reasonable prices, considering that these titles are already quite old, success would be guaranteed, and many users wouldn't even bother looking for ROMs through other means.
In addition, emulation tools are becoming more refined, and current devices have enough potential to be able to run platforms of all kinds. Hence, emulation is no longer something exclusive to PCs, since today we can find applications for all types of devices and even devices specially designed to install emulators on them, such as portable consoles that much interest has been generated in recent years.
But hey, if you like, let's see now all the emulators that exist today. Some allow you to enjoy the experience offered by the first consoles or even other systems such as arcade games or some of the curiosities that did not reach your city, such as Virtual Boy.
All Nintendo emulators
Nintendo is very clear on the subject of emulation: none of its systems and games can be emulated . Or almost none; the only legal way to do so is through its Virtual Console. This service is available, for example, on the Nintendo Switch. You can also play classic games from its NES and SNES consoles through the mini-consoles released in recent years.
However, none of this has prevented the existence of a multitude of emulators for their platforms for years. From the NES to the current Nintendo Switch it has emulators. Those yes, the performance between one and the other varies, because the power of both systems is different and the measures to avoid it too.
With a very complete catalogue, the NES and SNES with which they accumulate the most titles within that select club of games that marked the video game industry, from the different Marios to the most valued RPGs in history.
Nintendo Switch Emulator: Yuzu (Windows and Linux) and Ryūjinx (Windows, Linux and -coming soon- macOS)
All Sega emulators
Sega's Master System still didn't make it to the catalog of its great rival in those years, Nintendo's NES, but there are still interesting titles like Alex Kidd. Although the best came with the Megadrive and Sega Saturn. For the first there are very good role-playing games if you like the genre, in addition to the inexhaustible Sonic.
The first three PlayStations have also managed to be emulated (PS1, PS2 and PS3) and also the Sony PSP handheld. There are many games that have been reissued and since they are more recent consoles, it is not so difficult to find models that are still 100% functional on the second-hand market.
In the case of Microsoft consoles, only the Xbox Classic and Xbox 360 offer emulation. At least an option to emulate some games efficiently. Because many titles are still incompatible with development and do not run. If you want to try, because your console has stopped working, here are some options. The curious thing about Xbox is that the classic Xbox was one of the culprits that emulators evolved so much on consoles, since its operating system, once modified, allowed you to do everything.
Aside from all the console emulators we've shown you here, we want to make room for what is the best emulator for reliving old PC games from the 80s and 90s. It's DosBox , a wonderful program for PC (Windows) that can run all those titles developed for the MS-DOS operating system in all their glory.
The command prompt that you still have in Windows 10 (and 11) inside the CMD, which is the last vestige of that command console that we had to write letter by letter.
The emulators you've seen above are some of the most interesting for popular gaming platforms, though there are many more options. If you want to go even further back in time, you can find emulators for systems like the Apple AII, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, TurboGrafx, and, of course, platforms like arcade machines or Neo Geo consoles.
Some emulators you could try for what they have meant to the entertainment industry in one way or another:
Amiga Commodore: winfellow (Windows), FS UAE (Windows. Linux and Mac), although the recent launch of the Amiga 500 Mini has revolutionized the scene around this mythical computer, with a resurgence of the old demo-creating groups, and complete releases that you can launch on this hardware, which it is also compatible with AGA releases for the original Amiga 600 and 1200.
And of course, the emulator that couldn't be missing, the MAME emulator . This one is also available for several platforms:
As you may have already observed, both OpenEmu and RetroArch and Mednafen are like small "suites" capable of supporting various systems. Therefore, if the systems you want to emulate are supported, the ideal is to use them and avoid having several apps for something that you could do from a single one.
What do I need to use emulators
Now that you know which are the best emulators for practically all platforms, you are probably wondering which is the best equipment and what technical requirements it must meet in order to have the best possible experience. So let's talk about them.
Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi is a fairly inexpensive board with a mobile phone chip. There are several distributions you can use to operate this small computer as an emulation system. The most popular is RetroPie, which uses the kernels included in RetroArch so you can enjoy thousands of classic games. It's basically a program (more like an operating system) that you install and it lets you start playing immediately.
The most recent model of the Raspberry Pi is the Raspberry Pi 4. With it you will be able to emulate systems from the fifth generation of consoles without any problems. In addition, you will also be able to emulate some sixth generation consoles such as the Nintendo GameCube or even some Nintendo Wii games using the Dolphin cores.
In addition to the Raspberry Pi, there are boards from other manufacturers with similar features that are often used for this mission as well. Their main interest is that they allow you to create fantastic devices to your liking, since with cases or crafts you can create from small arcade games to consoles designed by yourself.
PC with Windows
For certain newer platform emulators, the best option is to have a PC. This is because most current systems require a lot of power to emulate.
Among the alternatives, Windows remains the best option to this day. If you have a powerful processor and a powerful graphics card, you'll have options to take advantage of CPU and GPU virtualization modes, allowing for better performance. If you're looking to emulate the Nintendo Switch with YUZU, you'll need a recent generation Intel or AMD CPU and a relatively new graphics card. You'll also need advanced hardware if you want to emulate the Wii U but aim to play at higher resolutions. With one of these systems, you can play titles like Zelda: Breath of the Wild at 8K resolution on an emulator like CEMU, something you could never do on its native console.
Therefore, if you are looking to enjoy all the emulator options, unless they are platforms that are already a few years old, our recommendation is that you opt for a PC. You don't need a team capable of running triple A titles at 4K resolution, but the more power (as always happens) the better.
Mac
It's not the ideal solution, but it can work if you already have an Apple computer at home. In this case, Macs with Intel chips are still more attractive for emulating games with RetroArch than Apple Silicon versions. Not all RetroArch cores are available for macOS, but you will be able to play popular emulators like Dolphin.
Another alternative that works wonderfully is using Steam Deck, Valve's portable PC-console that has generated enormous hype and spurred the development of highly sophisticated emulation platforms. One of these is Emudeck, which lets you hold virtually any video game ever released in the palm of your hand. It installs almost natively on SteamOS, creating a collections section right within the machine's game mode: Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, PSX, PS2, Dreamcast, Gamecube, and even Nintendo Switch games can be faithfully reproduced to take full advantage of the graphical power of hardware like Steam Deck. This console has created a trend that has encouraged many manufacturers to create similar devices that allow you to play both PC games and emulators.
Are emulators legal?
At this point, you might have doubts about whether or not it's legal to use these types of programs. And, interestingly, this debate has taken place many times around the world. Is it illegal for someone to use an emulator? Is it legal to create them?
Well, according to the law, emulators are indeed legal . But be aware, only emulators created by building tools that simulate the operation of the real console are legal. A program that uses the console's original code would never be legal, as that would constitute intellectual property theft.
What an emulator does is simply decipher how a console works . This is usually done using the complex technique of reverse engineering . Console manufacturers don't want these kinds of programs to exist, but there's little they can do to prevent them from appearing. Emulator developers are protected as long as they don't use original code and don't provide copyrighted game files. When using them, nothing prevents you from running them. However, you are only authorized to run copies of the games you own.
Where are the ROMS downloaded?
You've hit the nail on the head. Emulators are legal as long as you don't use illegal ROMs—that is, copies of games you don't physically own. Because making a backup of a cartridge is one thing, but downloading the entire Nintendo ROM set is another . Anything related to downloading free ROMs is strictly prohibited, so the only thing you should be interested in is how to use your old cartridges in an emulator. Because yes, that's another advantage emulators offer: the ability to use console cartridges on a PC. To do this, you'll need USB adapters that allow you to read and open the cartridges in many compatible emulators.
Beware of fake emulators
Since these programs are mostly downloaded from websites that aren't digital stores or repositories backed by reputable companies, we must be very careful not to download anything from sources other than the official websites of the emulator developers. This is especially important if we want to avoid accidentally downloading a file from an unknown source under the guise of emulating a particular console, a file that could damage our computer.
In this article, we provide names with reliable and verified links to current emulators that, in many cases, still have the support of a community behind them, making them the best guarantee that they will do what they promise when we install them on our computer.
